English “-IST” to French “-ISTE”

Bienvenue, fellow French learners! My name is Matt and I’m one of Dr. Kerley’s students. Like many of you, I’m learning French and I’ll be blogging regularly about a variety of things – language resources, French concepts, my deepest secrets, and more. Feel free to leave comments below because we can certainly help each other learn. That’s me to the left with a look of hope on my face. Most likely, this photo was taken after I successfully used l’imparfait and le passé composé in the same sentence. Baby steps, y’all.

Alors, commençons!

“IST” BECOMES “ISTE”

Although memorization can be an effective (and necessary) way of learning a language, it’s also important to learn using larger concepts. These concepts add many words to our vocabulary in a very short amount of time – bypassing the rote memorization of lists. Why? Because once we know a concept, it can immediately applied.

For today’s example, we’re going to look at words in English that end in “-IST”. Most English words ending in “-IST” can be converted into French by adding an “-E” to the end. Another great aspect? The majority of these French words are masculine!

It’s a two-for-one deal today, folks: not only are we adding a bunch of words to our vocabulary, but we’re learning their gender. We may slip here and there until we learn the gender exceptions but it’s definitely a start. For now, let’s just say that the odds are ever in our favor.

Below are 40 examples of English “-IST” to French “-ISTE” words to get us started:

the activist = l’activiste

the alarmist = l’alarmiste

the antagonist = l’antagoniste

the artist = l’artiste

the cyclist = le cycliste

the biologist =le biologiste

the botanist = le botaniste

the capitalist = le capitaliste

the centrist = le centriste

the communist = le communiste

the conformist = le conformiste

the economist = l’économiste

the dentist = le dentiste

the dermatologist = le dermatologiste

the extremist = l’extrémiste

the fascist = le fasciste

the feminist = le féministe

the finalist = le finaliste

the florist = le fleuriste

the humorist = l’humoriste

the idealist = l’idéaliste

the journalist = le journaliste

the linguist = le linguiste

the materialist = le matérialiste

the minimalist = le minimaliste

the moralist = le moraliste

the nationalist = le nationaliste

the nutritionist = le nutritionniste

the optimist = l’optimiste

the pacifist = le pacifiste

the pessimist = le pessimiste

the pianist = le pianiste

the populist = le populiste

the racist = le raciste

the realist = le réaliste

the socialist = le socialiste

the specialist = le spécialiste

the stylist = le styliste

the terrorist = le terroriste

the tourist = le touriste

And JUST when you thought the fun was over, there’s even more. Below are four words that also happen to be French “-ER” verbs. And as we all know – “ER” verbs are always a welcome sight:

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My Life in Photos

Blast from the past (complete with 80’s hairdo)! This is my ID card from the Université de Montréal where I spent three weeks in an intensive French immersion course. I attended just after my first year of teaching French.